Viacom sues YouTube for a billion
Viacom has slapped a US$1bn lawsuit on Google and its video-sharing YouTube subsidiary, claiming the two companies are "clearly illegal" and "in obvious conflict with copyright laws."
The suit was filed in a district court in New York, seeking not only US$1bn in damages but also an injunction prohibiting Google and YouTube from further alleged copyright infringement.
With echoes of the music-sharing saga, Viacom claimed that the two web companies have distributed 160,000 unauthorised clips of its programming and that these clips have been viewed more than 1.5 billion times, without any fee going to Viacom.
"YouTube is a significant, for-profit organisation that has built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others' creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent, Google," said Viacom.
The claimant, which last month partnered with IPTV start-up Joost, went on to say the YouTube business model is based on "unlicensed content, clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws."
Furthermore, the video-sharing site, bought by Google last autumn for US$1.65bn, had also enriched itself while "shifting the entire burden – and high cost – of monitoring YouTube on to the victims of its infringement," said Viacom.
When Viacom signed its content deal with Joost last month it said it had demanded the removal of its content – such as clips of Nickelodeon and MTV programming – from YouTube but that these talks had broken down.
"There is no question that YouTube and Google are continuing to take the fruit of our efforts without permission and destroying enormous value in the process. After a great deal of unproductive negotiation, and remedial efforts by ourselves and other copyright holders, YouTube continues in its unlawful business model."
Viacom's reaction to the YouTube phenomenon is in contrast to other broadcasters such as the BBC, Sundance and Spain's Antena-3, which have all signed content deals with the website for branded channels.
Responding to today's lawsuit, Google UK said: "We have not received the lawsuit but are confident that YouTube has respected the legal rights of copyright holders and believe the courts will agree. YouTube is great for users and offers real opportunities to rights holders."
The company added that it "will certainly not let this suit become a distraction to the continuing growth and strong performance of YouTube and its ability to attract more users, more traffic and build a stronger community."
Ed Waller
13 Mar 2007
© C21 Media 2007
Also, from Media Guardian:
Viacom sues Google and YouTube
Media conglomerate Viacom has broken cover against Google by suing the internet giant and its YouTube video sharing website for $1bn (£517m).
The company, which owns TV channels including MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount Comedy, today filed a suit with a US district court in New York, attacking Google for "massive intentional copyright infringement" and asking for an injunction to prevent users posting more of its videos to YouTube.
"YouTube is a significant, for-profit organisation that has built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others' creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent Google," said New York-based Viacom in a statement.
"Their business model, which is based on building traffic and selling advertising off of unlicensed content, is clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws.
"In fact, YouTube strategy has been to avoid taking proactive steps to curtail the infringement on its site, thus generating significant traffic and revenues for itself while shifting the entire burden – and high cost – of monitoring YouTube onto the victims of its infringement."
The $1.65bn acquisition of YouTube by Google last year led many industry insiders to speculate that a slew of lawsuits could follow from angry broadcasters.
Viacom's is the first major lawsuit to hit the Silicon Valley giant.
The statement accuses Google of failing to make positive steps to redress the situation.
"After a great deal of unproductive negotiation, and remedial efforts by ourselves and other copyright holders, YouTube continues in its unlawful business model. Therefore, we must turn to the courts to prevent Google and YouTube from continuing to steal value from artists and to obtain compensation for the significant damage they have caused."
Earlier this month a stand-off between the two companies looked to have been solved after Google agreed that it would remove thousands of pieces of copyrighted content from YouTube.
Viacom recently agreed a deal with Joost, a new peer-to-peer TV company from the creators of Skype, to distribute the company's TV shows and channels online. That agreement could have paved the way for the latest action, which builds on increasing pressure over Google's approach to copyright.
The internet company's stance has come in for criticism from broadcasters, publishers and newspaper groups in recent weeks – and last week Microsoft launched a broadside at its rival for what it called a "cavalier" approach to copyright.
Google was unavailable for comment.
